Connected Vehicles

Connected Vehicles offers state-of-the-art fleet tracking tools to help scale your business with flexible solutions for your platform.

Know where your assets are, reduce stops, coordinate routes and maximize your productivity with asset tracking.

Asset tracking is vital to ensuring your fleet’s being used in the most efficient way possible. Keep your business as productive as possible and reduce driver frustration, miniatous costs, and time utilized for asset location.

When it comes to fleet safety, accident reconstruction has evolved to provide drivers and fleet owners with the details to understand the events that surround a collision. Accident reconstruction is important for insurance, training and can be used in litigation.

That’s because there is important scientific information that can be collected before, during and after the accident. Through the quick and easy access of telematics data, fleet managers can investigate what happened by looking at different engine stats, understand more of the why, and provide scientific records of the event as supporting evidence.

INVESTIGATION

The power in telematics allows you to view, analyze, interpret and extract data from GPS tracking devices. Find and analyze known collisions relevant data such as:

GPS logs: to identify exact location

Engine speed (RPM):  determine if the driver attempted to avoid the collision

Odometer: more granular details on the trip

Fuel consumption: to analyze driving behaviour such as stops and starts or hard breaking

Accelerometer data: side to side, forward or braking can be used to determine the direction the vehicle was hit and the relative force

Engine data: important to review to retell the story

Trip history: to view driver’s history of driving

And more

All these pieces of information can be used to dig deep into the investigation. Information can be examined and gathered about the vehicle location and circumstance before, during and after the collision. With multiple data collected per second, it can be used to paint an accurate picture of the vehicle’s activity leading up to and during a collision, observing driving habits and understanding the direction and force of an impact.

TRAINING

In addition to data for investigation, the information can be used for fleet safety training. Reviewing the accident data and retelling the story through the data, will help in training other drivers to prevent future incidents.

INSURANCE

An added layer of safety is video telematics provided through dash cams. In-cabin and road facing cameras record the details of an accident from what occurred inside with the driver and what occurred on the surrounding road.

Insurance companies benefit from telematics:

Accurate data and reports

Reduce fraudulent claims

Helps with investigation

Relationship with insured company

Benefits for Fleet Company:

Accurate data for claims

Reduce vehicle premium costs

Optimize repair process

Improve driver behavoiur

Evidence for litigation

Despite how much training goes into fleet safety, accidents can happen. Having access to valuable data at your finger tips can protect your fleet.

Fleet maintenance is the process of keeping vehicles and assets operating efficiently. The goal is to keep them safe, and reliable and allow them to stay on the road or in use even longer. A preventative maintenance program is a key part of managing a fleet.

Overservicing and under-servicing fleets can have significant financial implications. Maintenance helps businesses reduce operating costs and improve vehicle inspection outcomes.

If you fail to adequately maintain your fleet, you compromise your employees’ safety, risk failing FMCSA inspections, and ultimately pay for costly emergency repairs along with unexpected downtime. The health of your vehicles is an overall indicator of the health of your business.

Having numerous vehicles and various types of equipment, it can be a challenge to stay organized and keep up with maintenance. This is where Connected Vehicles can help. Through Geotab, data analytics is used to help customers improve productivity, optimize fleets, promote driver safety, and achieve compliance with regulations.

Real-time asset monitoring solutions provide improved productivity and utilization with real-time asset tracking and management of trailers, containers, skid steers, forklifts, generators and more.

HOW CAN FLEET MAINTENANCE EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR VEHICLE?

Being vigilant with preventative maintenance helps you get the most out of your vehicles. Proper maintenance extends the longevity of fleets. For instance, maintaining the proper pressure and rotating tires regularly helps you get more miles out of them.

The vehicle manufacturer’s service schedule is a great starting point or guideline, but remember fleet needs vary. Many factors should be considered when determining the frequency of maintenance. It’s not uncommon to need to deviate from the manufacturers recommendations when it comes to how often your vehicles are serviced.

Fleet tracking automation software programs give managers and business owners the ability to stay on top of maintenance schedules by automatically tracking key metrics. Fleet tracking software can be used to monitor things like mileage, fuel usage, engine hours, battery levels, etc., making it easier than ever to know when every vehicle is due for maintenance.

Being able to plan allows them to factor the expenses in so there are no unexpected surprises. Automation tracking is a valuable tool in helping to preserve the fleets and boost the equipment’s ROI.

CAN REGULAR FLEET MAINTENANCE SAVE YOU MONEY ON REPAIR COSTS?

Routine maintenance is like a preventative measure. It helps detect any problems before they turn into serious problems. Although getting vehicles serviced constantly is an expense, it’s much less expensive than delaying service until a problem arises. You will certainly pay less for routine oil changes than you’d pay to replace a fleet engine or transmission.

In addition to the repair costs, you’ll also lose money for the time your fleet is off the road. Unplanned downtime results in delayed loads, thus impacting the bottom line. If you have employees on salary or pay them during the downtime, you’re losing wages.

Maintenance features in fleet tracking software provide detailed reports outlining information on the status and condition of every vehicle in your fleet. Managers are alerted of potential problems to address them before they become serious and costly. The maintenance reports know when vehicles are due for maintenance, which can help to cut maintenance costs by 60% or more.

HOW CAN REGULAR FLEET MAINTENANCE REDUCE OPERATING COSTS?

Neglected equipment results in higher fuel costs. With fuel constantly breaking new records, it’s important to do all you can to ensure vehicles are as fuel-efficient as possible. A poorly-maintained engine costs about 50% more fuel. Underinflated tires can also reduce mileage by about 10%.

Following structured maintenance schedules keep vehicles in working condition longer, which in turn helps to increase their resale value. Buyers are willing to pay more for a vehicle they know has been properly maintained. Records of all oil changes, filter replacements, tire pressure adjustments, etc. is wise if you plan to resell your vehicles.

Keeping your vehicles maintained can impact Compliance Safety and Accountability (CSA) scores. Companies with low scores stemming from violations are far less likely to be hired. The damage from lost business can be even more significant than the cost of serious repairs and downtime.

You’ll also want to consider it from a liability perspective. In the event of an accident, there will be an investigation. If any underlying equipment problems are detected, the insurance company or court may rule against you for negligence.

BENEFITS OF FLEET MAINTENANCE REMINDERS

You’ll always be in the know — You will receive reminders when a vehicle is almost due for maintenance

Increase the lifespan of your fleet — Healthier vehicles are more productive

Predictive maintenance scheduling — Early maintenance reminders help you efficiently schedule vehicle downtime to perform maintenance and any potential vehicle repairs

Stay organized — Organize past maintenance events to identify vehicle trends to help in further preventative measures

Connected Vehicles’ unique fleet maintenance reminder platform can track maintenance events for all your vehicles, regardless of the make, model, and size.

The Advanced Reminders Report works along with fleet maintenance reminders. After any maintenance event, you can instantly receive an email version of the report detailing exactly what maintenance was performed. When you do receive a maintenance reminder report, you’ll know it’s almost time for a scheduled maintenance event.

MAINTENANCE BEYOND TRUCKS

Often when we talk about fleet maintenance, trucks are the first thing that comes to mind, but what about all the other assets in your company? Forklifts, Tow Motors, Skid Steers, Trailers: are they being serviced regularly? Building out a fleet maintenance schedule around Engine Hours can be quote cumbersome – we can help with our fleet maintenance specialists.  We can track other asset data such as:

In-Cabin -tracks fuel consumption and engine data. Even when not being driven, there are hours of service (HOS) that a driver needs for compliance/safety

Trailer – track tire pressure, gps location and annual safety

Tow motor/Forklift – track for maintenance scheduling, cost of ownership

Skid Steers – Maintenance plans ensure the skid steer and pieces remain operational. Types of maintenance may include changing oil, air filters, fuel filters, etc.

Use the power of strong contextualized commercial connected vehicle data to make operational decisions. Strengthen your assets through fleet maintenance to reduce fuel costs, maximize efficiency, and help with the cost of ownership. The added value of insights through telematics data will provide greater insights into your asset usage, true utilization, dwell time, yard movements and yard entry and exit time enabling you to capture trends on vehicle usage.

Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Save Driver week takes place annually across North America July 10-16. It’s a safe driving awareness and outreach initiative aimed at improving the driving behaviours of passenger vehicle drivers and commercial motor vehicle drivers through educational and traffic enforcement. During the week, law enforcement officers will be looking for drivers who show signs of risky driving such as speeding, improper lane change, distraction and tailgating. According to Global Fleet Champions, driver error accounts for 90–95 percent of collisions.

By implementing a driver safety program in their fleets, businesses can find opportunities to save significantly on fuel, collision costs, and even lives. Programs for driver safety can support an organization’s overall fleet safety program and improve driver productivity and personal safety. A good way to concentrate on a particular aspect of the driver safety program is to incorporate a speed reduction campaign, which is the focus of this year’s Safe Driver Week.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SPEEDING

Contrary to popular belief, speeding is not a faster or more effective way to get from one place to another. Additionally, speeding is prohibited, and the fines associated with it are very costly for both drivers and their employers. There is no need to speed for the sake of everyone’s safety. The best objective is to arrive at your destination without breaking any laws or getting into an accident.

EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH SPEEDING

You should be aware of the costs of speeding and aggressive driving before you or your drivers get behind the wheel, including:

Demerit points, fines and citations

License revocation

Collisions that could cause vehicle damage, personal injury, or even death

Increased rates of fuel consumption

HOW FLEETS CAN STOP SPEEDING

Companies can lessen fleet speeding and aggressive driving by launching a workplace safety campaign. Telematics is a great addition to any fleet safety program because it gives coaches unbiased information about driver performance. It is possible to establish rules, take a baseline of speeding activity, and then monitor goal progress using a telematics platform.

USING DRIVER SCORECARDS FOR DRIVER SAFETY PROGRAMS

By implementing a driver safety program in their business, employers can find opportunities to save significantly on fuel, collision costs, and even lives. Programs for driver safety can support an organization’s overall fleet safety program and improve driver productivity and safety.

Driver scorecards are a good tool to help with productivity, safety, optimization and compliance. It uses GPS tracking/telematics to report on key fleet metrics such as:

Productivity (late starts, customer time vs. driving time)

Safety (speeding, acceleration, harsh breaking, hard cornering, seat belt use, backing up when leaving)

Fleet optimization (engine light on, engine abuse, fuel consumption, after hours work trip)

Compliance (HOS driving violations)

In many businesses, fleet expenses account for a sizable portion of the overall operating budget. A driver safety program offers a new way to cut costs and benefits everyone.

USING TELEMATICS

Fleet managers can see who has been speeding and how frequently with a telematics-based speeding report. For instance, Top 5 Speeding Violations report lists the top five drivers by the number of speeding incidents per day, week, or month. This report can assist in determining which drivers in the fleet have the riskiest driving practices and whether the fleet manager wants to improve overall fleet safety because of complaints about speeding drivers.

Vehicle tracking devices assist in gathering information that is later used to identify risky driving. In addition to vehicle road speed, fleet managers should pay attention to vehicle acceleration, and vehicle engine speed. These data points can help improve driving behaviors by generating safety dashboard reports, custom safety alerts, advanced collision systems, trip history and rules setting.

You can keep track of speeding, harsh braking, and sharp turns while monitoring fleet safety in real-time. You can effectively coach the drivers in real-time and discourage distracted driving with the aid of all this information. Give prompt feedback to boost performance.

A telematics system can constantly scan the road and alerts the driver to potential collisions, unintentional lane changes, tailgating, and risks for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Connected Vehicles Fleet management solution is built on a strong foundation of fleet safety. With in-vehicle driver coaching, instant collision notification, and risk and safety reporting, telematics can support a company’s safety program and distracted driving policy.

HOW TO SET A SUCCESSFUL SPEED REDUCTION CAMPAIGN

Set a target. In this case, reducing or eliminating driver speeding violations (as defined in your Driver Safety Policy) would be the main objective

Choose a campaign coordinator and an internal sponsor

Create it. Include a compliance and communication strategy

Promote your initiative

Evaluate

Create a group of supporters for the initiative. Include staff members on the campaign committee. Plan activities and communications to promote the campaign while distributing safety best practices. Fact-filled and visually appealing posters can be very powerful. To maintain interest and enthusiasm throughout the campaign, you’ll want to communicate frequently.

CONCLUSION-

One of the most common causes of accidents and fatal traffic-related incidents is speeding. Additionally, speeding raises the cost of fuel. It’s important for employers to focus on driver speeding since safe roads are a shared responsibility.  Together we can help make the roads safer for everyone.

Explore Connected Vehicles’ fleet safety solutions for more information.

The fleet management system is a set of procedures that enables businesses to view and control all data related to their vehicles and other assets, from the time of purchase until the end of their useful lives. Read this article to know all about fleet management systems. 

As you know, technology and innovations have changed how many businesses manage their everyday operations. The fleet management system is a set of procedures that enables businesses to view and control all data related to their vehicles and other assets, from the time of purchase until the end of their useful lives. 

With the development of technology, more companies are turning to fleet management software to optimize maintenance scheduling, provide better visibility into vehicle and asset use, and lower the total cost of ownership. More firms are discovering the value in digital procedures that eliminate inefficient manual duties and streamline operations as the fleet manager's job grows.

Fleet management Canada is gaining more and more popularity after the ELD mandate issued by the government a while ago. 

So let’s understand in detail what fleet management is and how it can help business owners. 

What Is Fleet Management?

Every business that’s engaged in some kind of transportation activity needs proper control over its fleet to maximize productivity and lower costs. The transportation business in Canada has flourished and grown in the past few decades and fleet management Canada can help business owners to make the most out of their vehicles. 

Functions Of Fleet Management: 

Following are the functions of fleet management: 

1. Fleet Tracking 

Tracking your fleet is one of the most crucial functions of a fleet management system. To ensure the safety and efficiency of their fleet, the fleet owners need to be properly informed about the fleet’s activities. Even though it would appear straightforward, tracking a fleet of even five or five thousand cars' locations might be difficult. For better visibility into their fleet operations and vehicle safety, fleet owners frequently rely on GPS technology and other GPS tracking systems. You can look for trusted fleet management companies in Canada like Connected Vehicles to get a proper GPS fleet tracking system in place. 

  2. Ensuring Driver’s Safety

As you know, the Canadian government has brought many provisions in place to ensure drivers’ safety like Hours of Services (HOS), ELD compliance, etc. It can be challenging to ensure safe driving practices, especially when fleet managers are hundreds of miles distant from the moving vehicle. Dash cams and vehicle monitoring systems are useful tools fleet owners can utilize to provide real-time insight into a remote vehicle and to supply information or materials for implementing driver training.

3. To Become ELD compliant:

Fleet management can help the fleet owners to become compliant with the Canadian ELD mandate rolled out in June 2021. ELD mandate calls for commercial vehicle owners to electronically log their Hours of Service (HOS). The regulation aims to eliminate paper logs and lessen instances of risky driving brought on by weary drivers. Fleet managers must put in place ELD compliance systems for fleets to make sure they have an accurate record of drive time. Fleet management companies in Canada are working rigorously to integrate electronic logging devices with fleet management software to get the proper logging information of the fleet. 

Connected Vehicles is a leading name when it comes to fleet management companies Canada. Nothing is more crucial for a fleet business owner than maximizing efficiency and reducing expenses. You may simply achieve your goals by implementing the most recent GPS and telematics technology incorporated with fleet management. 

Connected Vehicles can help if you're seeking fleet optimization services. Connected Vehicles describes itself as a client services firm that aids businesses in order to provide smart, data-driven fleet optimization solutions like Geotab. 

Every business owner wants to invest in technology that can help in boosting productivity and efficiency and at the same time enhance the safety of their fleet vehicles and drivers. Fleet management and fleet optimization are making it easy for businesses to achieve all of these goals. Telematics is starting to revolutionize the way organizations plan and organize their employees.

Optimization is defined as "the action of making the greatest or most effective use of a resource or a situation".  When we talk about “fleet optimization”, it means making the most significant use of your fleet. The main goal of fleet optimization is to increase productivity.

Adopting fleet management optimization has many benefits for businesses. Some of the benefits are listed below:

1. Reduced Unneccessory Fuel Consumption:

Fuel prices are currently going through the roof and reducing the fuel consumption wherever it is possible is becoming a primary concern for fleet owners. This can be achieved through a fleet fuel management system. You can obtain the essential data with the fleet management system like engine idling time. You can use these insights to better train your drivers and cut down unnecessary fuel consumption wherever possible. 

2. Enhanced Driver And Fleet Safety: One of the primary benefits of fleet route optimization is that it can help in enhancing your driver’s & fleet’s safety. Bad roads, overspeeding, etc., can lead to fatal road accidents. Ensuring your driver’s safety is the most important concern. Fleet route optimization allows you to analyze the route your fleet will be travelling, and road conditions, and will also allow you to track your fleet’s activity and live location through GPS. GPS tracking helps in providing immediate aid as soon as a road accident takes place. 

The ability to receive notifications and alerts concerning risky driving practices in close to real-time is a key advantage of fleet management software. For instance, fleet tracking tools like dashboard cameras let fleet managers keep an eye out for instances of forceful braking, cornering, and speeding by their drivers.

3. Helps In Better Vehicle Maintenance: The lifecycles of vehicles and fleet maintenance are the most prominent areas that place a significant financial burden on businesses. Fortunately, fleet management systems offer all the tools required to create a preventative maintenance schedule that is effective for a fleet, assisting you in controlling maintenance expenses.

A preventative maintenance programme can be made using a variety of data points, including miles travelled, engine hours, and fuel use. Managers can monitor vehicle downtime brought on by breakdowns, jumpstarts, tows, and emergency repairs using fleet management optimization software. This can assist in locating potential issue areas and recurring trends that the maintenance schedule may need to address or modify.

4. Allows Real-Time Tracking Of Fleet: Having a fleet optimization system in place allows you to track your fleet in real-time. You can easily track whether your fleet is moving in the right direction, how far the fleet is from the destination, whether your driver is driving as per the prescribed limit, whether there’s any unauthorized activity, etc. This can help you to easily train your staff, optimize your routes and operations and also maintain good relations with the customers. 

These are some of the main benefits of using fleet optimization and there are many more! As a fleet business owner, there’s nothing more important than achieving maximum efficiency and cutting costs. By adopting the latest telematics and GPS technology, you can easily meet your goals. 

If you are looking for fleet optimization services, Connected Vehicles can help. At Connected Vehicles, we identify ourselves as a customer services company that helps businesses by fusing telematics information and technology to provide smart, data-driven fleet optimization solutions. 

Get Fleet GPS Tracking System with Connected Vehicles to enhance safety and minimize fuel costs. Our fleet tracker system is scalable, flexible and can be completely tailored.

Fleet optimization and fleet route management solutions offer by Connected Vehicles help you reduce fuel consumption, optimize routes and improve driver behaviour.

Ensure your fleet's compliance with customizable fleet compliance management services by Connected Vehicle. We offer fleet safety compliance services for all types and sizes.

 If you are a fleet owner or trucker in Canada, you need to know about the transport Canada ELD mandate rolled by the government in June 2021. Read everything you need to know about Canada ELD mandate in this article.

If you are a fleet owner or trucker in Canada, you need to know about the transport Canada ELD mandate rolled by the government in June 2021. If you are worried about the new mandate & haven’t compliant your vehicle with it yet, then do not worry, as we have got you covered. In this article, we have covered everything you need to know about the Canada ELD mandate.

What is Transport Canada ELD Mandate? Canada ELD mandate is a new set of regulations rolled about by the Canadian government in June 2021. According to the mandate, all truckers will need to replace their old paper logging system with Electronic Logging Devices (ELD). The truck owners & vendors are also required to get a third-party ELD certificate. This mandate is similar to the ELD mandate rolled out by the U.S. government in 2017.

The mandate focuses on digitizing the logging process & reducing driver’s fatigue by strictly following the Canadian hours of service rules.

Things Covered In ELD Compliance Canada Even though the Canadian government was all set to roll out the mandate two years ago, the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has refrained the truck owners to get an ELD certificate. However, as soon as things started looking better, the government rolled out the mandate.

According to the transport Canada ELD regulation, the mandate will include the following:

It will completely replace the paper logging system with an electronic logging device. Paper logging will no longer remain valid.

It will require an ELD certificate issued by an independent third party.

A standardized process will come into place to prevent errors, logbook tampering & driver harassment.

It will strengthen the Hours of Service (HOS) regulation given by the government earlier.

The mandate will adopt many provisions from the U.S. 2017 mandate except the rule for self-certification by the vendors. The Canadian vendors will need an independent third-party ELD certification.

How Should You Prepare For The Mandate? Now that the mandate has come into effect, here are the following steps you can take to get ELD compliance Canada:

First thing first, you need to get an electronic logging device that fits the compliance. Connected Vehicles’ Geotab is an industry-leading solution for electronic logging that is already compliant with Canadian ruleset like Hours of Service rules, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators’ Technical Standard for Electronic Logging Devices, etc. In the next step, you will require a third-party ELD certificate. Ask your provider about the certification process. As an electronic logging solution, Geotab is committed to achieving a third-party certification whenever it is available. Start training your drivers & employees with the rules & regulations of the transport Canada ELD mandate. Give proper training in electronic logging so that they can easily follow the new rules. Make sure that your drivers are not exceeding the Hours of Service regulations and working within the prescribed hours.

Following these steps, you can easily prepare yourself for the new ELD mandate. The new mandate has multiple benefits for both the truck owners & the drivers. Some of the benefits are:

Improved road safety.

Reduced driver’s fatigue.

Bring efficiency to the administration & enforcement process.

Promoted economic growth by integrating the U.S. regulations.

These are everything you need to know about transport Canada ELD regulations. At Connected Vehicles, we help truck owners to adopt new rules like the ELD mandate with our solution Geotab. Geotab is a solution that facilitates electronic logging and allows you to track your vehicles from anywhere in the world!